shrink ext3 filesystem using e2fsprogs and fdisk
I have a 500GB((131072000*4096)/1024^3) ext3 filesystem:
root@debian:~#dumpe2fs /dev/sda9 | egrep "Block count|Block size"
dumpe2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
Block count: 131072000
Block size: 4096
root@debian:~#
..on a 904GB((1953523711-56924160)*512)/(1024^3) partition(sda9):
root@debian:~#fdisk -cul /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00062a0f
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 684031 340992 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 686078 1953523711 976418817 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 686080 18262015 8787968 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 18264064 24121343 2928640 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 24123392 56141823 16009216 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 56143872 56922111 389120 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 56924160 1953523711 948299776 83 Linux
root@debian:~#
At the moment everything works, but if I shrink the size of the
/dev/sda9 partition from the beginning of the partition like this(sda9
is now 693GB which is more than enough to hold the 500GB file system):
root@debian:~#fdisk -cul /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00062a0f
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 684031 340992 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 686078 1953523711 976418817 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 686080 18262015 8787968 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 18264064 24121343 2928640 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 24123392 56141823 16009216 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 56143872 56922111 389120 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 500000000 1953523711 726761856 83 Linux
root@debian:~#
..then file system is broken:
root@debian:~#dumpe2fs /dev/sda9
dumpe2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda9
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
root@debian:~#
Is it possible to make partition smaller starting from the beginning?
If yes, do I need to somehow start file system from the end of the
partition?
regards,
martin
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